Send reception only invitations at the same time as your ceremony invitations: 6 to 8 weeks before a local wedding, or 2 to 3 months before a destination wedding, with the same RSVP deadline of 3 to 4 weeks before the date. Word them as a complete invitation to a party: both names, "invite you to celebrate their marriage at a reception", the date, time, venue with full address, dress code and a reply-by date. Never write "just" or "only", and never explain why the guest is not at the ceremony. Reception guests follow the same plus-one and gift etiquette as everyone else. With The Private Wedding App, reception guests get their own private link that shows only the reception, the reception venue on the cover and only the info you choose, and every reply lands in the same guest list with a running total per event. The Private Wedding App costs $19.99/month or $189 once for lifetime access, no subscription.
A small ceremony and a big party is one of the most common wedding shapes there is. The ceremony happens in a chapel that seats forty, at the courthouse, or abroad with close family, and everyone else is invited to celebrate afterwards. The reception only invitation is how you tell that wider circle, and it raises the same questions every time: how do you word it so it feels like a real invitation, when do you send it, do these guests get a save the date, a plus-one, a gift table? This guide answers each one, gives you nine wording examples to copy and adapt, and shows the practical part most invitation tools skip: giving reception guests their own invitation link that shows the reception, its venue and its details, and nothing about a ceremony they are not attending.
What a reception only invitation is, and when couples use one
A reception only invitation invites the guest to the party after the wedding, not to the ceremony itself. It is a complete invitation in its own right, not a lesser version of the full one. Couples send them for practical reasons, and guests know it.
The usual situations: the ceremony venue is small (a chapel, a historic church, a family home) while the reception venue is large; the couple marries at the courthouse or city hall with immediate family, then throws a party; the wedding is abroad with a handful of guests and the celebration happens back home; or the ceremony is religious and kept to family, with friends and colleagues joining for dinner and dancing.
One distinction matters for wording. "Reception to follow" is a line printed at the bottom of a full ceremony invitation, meaning the guest is invited to both, with the reception straight after. A reception only invitation leaves the ceremony out entirely and puts the reception at the heart of the card: the time on the card is the reception's time, the address is the reception's address.
Reception only wedding invitation wording examples
Every version below names the couple, says plainly that this is a reception to celebrate the marriage, and gives time, place and a reply-by date. Pick the register that matches your wedding and adapt the details.
- Both of your names, and the guests' names on the envelope or the link message
- The word "reception" or "celebrate their marriage", stated plainly
- Date, start time and the reception venue with its full address
- Dress code, and a note on food if it is not a seated dinner
- A reply-by date, written as a real date
When to send reception only invitations
Send them on the same day as the ceremony invitations, with the same design and the same RSVP deadline. A reception card that arrives three weeks after everyone else's tells the guest which list they were on. Sent together, nobody can tell, and nobody needs to.
The timing itself counts backwards from your caterer, exactly as for any wedding invitation: the caterer needs a final headcount 1 to 2 weeks before the date, you need 1 to 2 weeks to chase the guests who have not answered, so the RSVP deadline sits 3 to 4 weeks out, and invitations go 6 to 8 weeks out. Reception guests eat and drink, so their replies matter to the headcount as much as anyone's.
Do you send save the dates for reception only guests? Yes, if you send save the dates at all. A save the date only asks people to keep the evening free, and reception guests need that just as much, especially for a Saturday in peak season. The one exception is a party held long after a destination wedding or elopement: there, an announcement of the marriage can go out first, and the reception invitation follows 6 to 8 weeks before the party.
Reception only etiquette: who, plus-ones, gifts and timing
Is it rude to invite someone to the reception only? No. It is common in the US, standard in the UK as the evening invitation, and normal in many cultures where the religious ceremony is for family and the party is for everyone. What makes it feel rude is wording that apologises, a late send, or guests discovering the ceremony details on a shared wedding website.
Plus-ones follow the same rule as for your other guests. If ceremony guests in a long-term relationship are invited with their partner, reception guests in a long-term relationship are too. Name the invited people on the envelope or in the link message, so there is no guessing.
Gifts: reception guests are wedding guests, and most bring or send a gift, just as ceremony guests do. Share your registry or honeymoon fund with them the same way. Never mention gifts on the invitation itself; put it on your wedding website or in the info on your invitation link.
Timing on the day: start the reception when the ceremony guests have actually arrived. If the ceremony ends at 4pm and photos run until 5:30pm, invite reception guests for the cocktail hour at 5:30pm, not 4:30pm, so they do not stand in an empty room. And keep the ceremony off the public parts of your wedding website: a reception guest who sees the full ceremony schedule reads it as a list they were left off.
Give reception guests their own link, with only the reception on it
The wording is half the job. The other half is everything a reception guest sees after the card: the wedding website, the schedule, the venue page, the RSVP form. On most wedding websites that is one shared page, so the reception guest scrolls straight past the ceremony time and the chapel address.
The Private Wedding App is an all-in-one wedding planning platform: the invitation and its pages, guest list and RSVP, meal choices with dietary and allergy tracking, seating plan, day-of schedule, venue maps, budget, vendors and checklist in one place. For a reception only list, you add your events in the RSVP tab, for example "Ceremony" and "Reception", each with its date, time and place. Then on the Guests page you create an invite group, "Reception guests", and give it its own link.
For that group you choose which events it is invited to (the reception only, so the ceremony is never shown), which schedule moments it sees (the cocktail hour, dinner and dancing, without the processional), which info sections appear on its invitation (so church parking stays with the ceremony guests), and the venue line on its cover, so reception guests see the reception venue alone while ceremony guests see both. If the reception has no seated dinner, untick "Ask the meal choice for this event" on the reception and reception guests skip the meal question, while allergies can still be asked.
Every reply lands in one guest list, and the Guests page shows a running total per event: attending, pending and declined for the ceremony and for the reception. Each guest has a WhatsApp button that sends them their group's link, so a reception guest receives the reception link, and once your numbers are final you can close RSVPs so the count stops moving. The same link can run in up to three languages, with each guest picking theirs once when they open it.
See it on the live demo invitation, read how RSVP per event works, then start your own invitation and planner: the full wedding planner, at the price of a streaming subscription. For the UK evening guest version of this question, see our guide to evening wedding invitations.
- Add a Ceremony event and a Reception event in the RSVP tab
- Create a "Reception guests" invite group on the Guests page
- Invite that group to the reception only
- Hide the ceremony moments from its schedule and the ceremony info from its invitation
- Set the reception venue as its cover venue
- Untick the meal choice on the reception if it is not a seated dinner
- Send each guest their group link, then watch the per-event totals fill
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Try the full planner →How do you word a reception only wedding invitation?
Name both of you, say clearly that you invite the guest to celebrate your marriage at a reception, then give the date, start time, venue with full address, dress code and a reply-by date. For example: "Emily Hayes and Daniel Reyes request the pleasure of your company at their wedding reception, Saturday, June 12, at seven o'clock, The Glasshouse, Charleston. Kindly reply by May 1." Leave out any mention of the ceremony and never write "just" or "only".
When do you send out reception only invitations?
On the same day as your ceremony invitations: 6 to 8 weeks before a local wedding, or 2 to 3 months before a destination wedding. Use the same RSVP deadline for everyone, 3 to 4 weeks before the date, because reception guests count toward your caterer's headcount. If the party is held months after a destination wedding or elopement, send the reception invitations 6 to 8 weeks before the party.
Do you send save the dates for reception only guests?
Yes, if you are sending save the dates to anyone. A save the date asks guests to keep the evening free, and reception guests need that as much as ceremony guests, especially on a peak season Saturday. Send them at the same time, 4 to 6 months before the wedding.
Is it rude to invite someone to the reception only?
No. Reception only invitations are common in the US, standard in the UK as the evening invitation, and normal wherever the ceremony is kept to family. It only feels rude when the wording apologises, the invitation arrives weeks after everyone else's, or the guest finds the ceremony details on a shared wedding website. Send at the same time, use the same design, and give reception guests a link that shows only the reception.
Do reception only guests give a gift?
Most do. Reception guests are wedding guests, and gift etiquette is the same for them as for ceremony guests. Share your registry or honeymoon fund with them the same way as with everyone else, on your wedding website or invitation link, never printed on the invitation itself.
What does "reception to follow" mean on a wedding invitation?
It means the guest is invited to the ceremony and to the reception, which starts straight after the ceremony, usually at the same venue. If the reception is somewhere else, the line becomes "reception to follow at" with the venue, or a separate reception card. A reception only invitation does not use the phrase at all, since the guest is invited to the reception alone.
How do I stop reception guests from seeing the ceremony details on our wedding website?
Give them a separate link. In The Private Wedding App you create an invite group for reception guests on the Guests page, invite it to the reception event only, and choose which schedule moments and info sections it sees and which venue appears on its cover. Reception guests open their link and see the reception, its venue and its details. A guest with no group sees everything, so ceremony guests keep the full picture.